I've got one, and it's name is baking soda. Apparently you can clean pretty much anything and everything with baking soda, and vinegar. I like baking soda more because it's cheaper (sorry vinegar). I have been on a cleaning marathon this afternoon and most of it has involved some sort of combination of baking soda, vinegar or lemon juice. The sad part is, my apartment still seems dirty. I think it is just inherently dirty. Everything gets realllly dusty inside, especially during the summer and especially with the windows open. Since my AC filter hasn't been changed yet, I am keeping the windows open. Hence, everything kind of has a dusty film on it. Sucks.
I also decided to do an at home olive oil hair treatment and I think I burned my scalp. Sometimes it sucks being an impatient moron. I do things while simultaneously thinking in my head, do not do that!!! And then I do it. So now, I think I burned a hole in my scalp by putting extremely hot olive oil on it. Stupid. I'm hoping that my hair will at least be luxurious and will kind of be worth the burn. My hair has been looking especially bad here in Korea. It looks fantastic the day I get it cut and blow dried by the hairdresser, but after that it is pretty much downhill. I'm not sure what is going on...last summer it was looking amazing and this summer it's just a sad mess. I'm hoping it's going to improve soon.
I think I'm going green here in Korea. I've been finding all these do it yourself with natural ingredients things to clean my apartment (and hair). Mainly out of necessity. I can't find of cleaning things here, and, I'm cheap. The combination is turning me into a DIY master. Maybe not master though, since like I said, my apartment still seems dirty and my scalp is burned. Hopefully I'll learn my lesson for next time, at least.
In other news, some people suck really bad and it is extremely disappointing. I hate more than anything having to move people over to the suck list. It's a terrible feeling.
Anyway, I also thought I had mastered the not having energy crisis but I was sooo tired today. Maybe I can find some natural way to give myself some energy because sleep, iron pills, coffee and exercise aren't seeming to work for me. I've tried some combination of those four over the last few weeks. Nothing seems to be working and I am tired of being tired. That's all for now.
Dream big people!
26 June 2012
25 June 2012
Frustrations
Ooooh, my goodness it has been an extremely frustrating day. Well, it started yesterday actually. I got all excited to go to E-Mart (Korean Wal Mart) and it's kind of a trek and I had a list and everything and we get there and it's closed. Of course. We actually should have known better because the chain stores close here every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month to give the small businesses a break. So no E-Mart shopping, which was very sad. So I went to the gym and got a little more depressed because I am not losing weight even though I have been working out a lot more lately. Then, I got no sleep last night because I was up coughing and sneezing and that whole game. I couldn't figure out if it was because of my windows being open or because of the AC, but once I checked the filter in the "Air-Con," it was pretty obvious it was my DISGUSTING AC filter. Yet another thing I didn't realize I was supposed to be cleaning on a regular basis. I know that you have to change AC filters every now and again, but for whatever reason, it hadn't crossed my mind to change this one. But that shit is getting done ASAP because it is super hot and I do not want a cold.
And feeling crappy was just the beginning of the day. I mean, it really wasn't a bad day, just frustrating with a lot of silly Korean things I don't understand. For instance, you have to go into the bank to pay your bills here. I was asking someone at school about it and he's all, oh, you can get it set up so it just takes it out automatically. And I was all, FANTASTIC! Because I really do not like going to the bank here. For one, it's only open 9-4:30 so I have to find a window of time to sneak over during the day...which I always feel bad doing because I have to leave my class. Secondly, the tellers always make me feel like such an idiot. I know I am, but I don't really like being reminded. So I go during lunch today, thinking it won't take long, but of course there are 5 people ahead of me, all with lengthy bank transactions. I get up there, get the you're a moron look/talk from the teller. What really irritates me is that she acts like, so surprised I'm there and wanting to pay these stupid bills. I know for a fact I am not the only foreigner to go in there to do this because my friends go to the same bank and there was a guy before me doing the same thing! Anyway, she informs me I cannot set up automatic payments because that company doesn't have an account with my bank. Uggggrrggghhh. So I have to go there every month to pay this stupid bill. Which is retarded expensive, by the way.
So after that fun time, I go back to school and "PSA Mini Camp" starts for the first time. We had planned on making smores and hot dogs on the grill. Instead of hot dogs, they give us microwavable corn dogs. Instead of graham crackers, saltines. And instead of a grill, they wanted to give us a little propane gas burner. Whhhaaattt the hell. Camping, Korea style I guess. Or maybe just my school. I don't know. I'm usually pretty flexible but I was a little irritated we basically had to start from scratch 30 minutes before the class started. Also, I'm not really sure why they couldn't find the real things, I know they exist. Anyway, we did eventually get a grill but the guy helping us didn't really understand that we needed a flame, so we had to put the marshmallows next to the charcoal to melt them. Totally ridiculous. And then the kids were just like, meh. These are ok. About smores! Nonsense!
After those good times, I come home to attempt some internet banking. I wanted to bypass the bank to transfer money home. They told me I could do it online, I just had to call and get a digital certificate. Korean online banking is TOTAL RIDICULOUSNESS. It has an insane amount of security features and they interfere with whatever you already on your computer, so you have to turn all your anti-virus stuff off, and only use internet explorer and go through a lot of really stupid steps...including in typing in numbers from your "security code card," and remember 3 different passwords. It's super annoying. At first the website would load and everything, it just wouldn't let me type in my user id and password, soooo aggravating! So, after an hour on the phone with this poor woman that probably thought I was horrible (and rude since I kept sneezing and blowing my nose...damn Air Con!), it turns out they had not set me up with international banking after all. The mean woman lied to me! She said I could transfer money online and I COULD NOT. Oh, I almost threw my computer out the window.
Anyway, to end on a positive note, I then went to yoga and the teacher is super super nice. I also have figured out how to make homemade galbi (grilled meat) AND I have the delicious sauce they serve with it (they sell it at the grocery store!) so my dinner was a-mazing. Probably not going to help with the weight loss problem, but that is for another day.
For now, I am going to try and get some sleep in my oven of a room because I would rather be hot than sick. Really hoping I get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow, my new after school program starts and I found out today that my least favorite student in my class (seriously, she sucks) just joined. Oh man, today sucked. Glad it's over. Thank goodness for some of the goober students that made me laugh really hard by calling the computer a turtle since it was going really slow today.
Dream big people!
And feeling crappy was just the beginning of the day. I mean, it really wasn't a bad day, just frustrating with a lot of silly Korean things I don't understand. For instance, you have to go into the bank to pay your bills here. I was asking someone at school about it and he's all, oh, you can get it set up so it just takes it out automatically. And I was all, FANTASTIC! Because I really do not like going to the bank here. For one, it's only open 9-4:30 so I have to find a window of time to sneak over during the day...which I always feel bad doing because I have to leave my class. Secondly, the tellers always make me feel like such an idiot. I know I am, but I don't really like being reminded. So I go during lunch today, thinking it won't take long, but of course there are 5 people ahead of me, all with lengthy bank transactions. I get up there, get the you're a moron look/talk from the teller. What really irritates me is that she acts like, so surprised I'm there and wanting to pay these stupid bills. I know for a fact I am not the only foreigner to go in there to do this because my friends go to the same bank and there was a guy before me doing the same thing! Anyway, she informs me I cannot set up automatic payments because that company doesn't have an account with my bank. Uggggrrggghhh. So I have to go there every month to pay this stupid bill. Which is retarded expensive, by the way.
So after that fun time, I go back to school and "PSA Mini Camp" starts for the first time. We had planned on making smores and hot dogs on the grill. Instead of hot dogs, they give us microwavable corn dogs. Instead of graham crackers, saltines. And instead of a grill, they wanted to give us a little propane gas burner. Whhhaaattt the hell. Camping, Korea style I guess. Or maybe just my school. I don't know. I'm usually pretty flexible but I was a little irritated we basically had to start from scratch 30 minutes before the class started. Also, I'm not really sure why they couldn't find the real things, I know they exist. Anyway, we did eventually get a grill but the guy helping us didn't really understand that we needed a flame, so we had to put the marshmallows next to the charcoal to melt them. Totally ridiculous. And then the kids were just like, meh. These are ok. About smores! Nonsense!
After those good times, I come home to attempt some internet banking. I wanted to bypass the bank to transfer money home. They told me I could do it online, I just had to call and get a digital certificate. Korean online banking is TOTAL RIDICULOUSNESS. It has an insane amount of security features and they interfere with whatever you already on your computer, so you have to turn all your anti-virus stuff off, and only use internet explorer and go through a lot of really stupid steps...including in typing in numbers from your "security code card," and remember 3 different passwords. It's super annoying. At first the website would load and everything, it just wouldn't let me type in my user id and password, soooo aggravating! So, after an hour on the phone with this poor woman that probably thought I was horrible (and rude since I kept sneezing and blowing my nose...damn Air Con!), it turns out they had not set me up with international banking after all. The mean woman lied to me! She said I could transfer money online and I COULD NOT. Oh, I almost threw my computer out the window.
Anyway, to end on a positive note, I then went to yoga and the teacher is super super nice. I also have figured out how to make homemade galbi (grilled meat) AND I have the delicious sauce they serve with it (they sell it at the grocery store!) so my dinner was a-mazing. Probably not going to help with the weight loss problem, but that is for another day.
For now, I am going to try and get some sleep in my oven of a room because I would rather be hot than sick. Really hoping I get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow, my new after school program starts and I found out today that my least favorite student in my class (seriously, she sucks) just joined. Oh man, today sucked. Glad it's over. Thank goodness for some of the goober students that made me laugh really hard by calling the computer a turtle since it was going really slow today.
Dream big people!
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| My disgusting AC filter |
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| Reasons to smile...check that wife beater! |
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| Homemade galbi and awesome sauce...delicious! |
21 June 2012
She say you look baby
...says my yoga instructor, translating for another woman in the class. Pretty much every new encounter I have with a Korean involves them commenting on some aspect of my appearance. Yesterday I was told my hair looks like a dolls hair (apparently thats good) and I’m most often told I have a small face. Also, apparently good. I think I confuse Koreans because they see that I’m fat, but still think I am pretty with my doll hair, small face and “face dents.” It is quite the paradox. But whatever, at least they are focusing on the good. And everyone is always super nice and concerned that I'm happy, so no complaints. I just haven't figured out the appropriate reaction yet. Like, thanks? I know? Smile and nod? Not sure.
I have also noticed that old Korean men really seem to like me. Sometimes I think they are smirking at me..but like, in a nice way. But other times they are just straight up delighted by me. Especially the taxi drivers. Which comes in handy when we want to take 5 people. I flash my dents and it is done! Maybe I remind them of their wives...curly hair is the style of choice for most older Korean women. Or maybe I remind them of their baby grandchildren...who knows. Hasn't gotten me any discounts so far, but I just know once I learn Korean they are going to be driving me around for free. So I'll get right on that.
Anyway, such a busy and great week! Kayaking was super fun, even though our boat had a hole in it and we pretty much sank. We had to get our boat drained twice and we ended up losing our group. I was paired up with an Austrian and we were Team Awesome....in last place, but whatever.
Oh, and I got my smart phone and we are in love. Match made in heaven. It definitely trumps the Blackberry and I think I like it more than the iPhone. I've only used other peoples and had an iPod touch, but I think it's a little more user friendly. Either way, I love my new Samsung and if you also have a smart phone, we can chat for free on Kakao or WhatsApp! Download them and get my number, stat!
Today we had a "Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer!" party on the roof for Cherry class. It was soooo fun! And hilarious. It was freaking hot outside, but totally worth it to see the kids in their sunglasses. So stinking precious, I couldn't even handle it. I want to figure out different ways now to get them in sunglasses more often. Koreans are pretty opposed to the heat so I don't know how much they liked being outside, but I had a great time! I'll take it over the cold any day, that is for damn sure. The kids are such goobers when it comes to playing outside too. I think they are just not used to it and don't really know how to handle themselves. We were having a pretty good time until one kid fell on top of another and we had to stop. That is how it works here...one injury and the fun is over for everyone. Very sad. But it was fun while it lasted. And my buddy Ray was back today. He had been on vacation for the past few days, so class it had been pretty quiet in Cherry class. But today Hurricane Ray was back in all his glory and I'm not going to lie, I missed him. He gives really good hugs.
And for some BIG NEWS: MY MOM IS COMING TO KOREA!!!!! I am so so so SOOOO pumped!!! She will only be in a Korea for 2 days, but my class will get to meet "Mom Teacher," and she'll get to see my apartment and everything so I'm really happy. She is coming right before my vacation and then we are heading off to THAILAND together! I mean, how awesome is that? My mom and I are going to Thailand. Thailand. Who would have ever thought? Apparently my grandma has started feeling pretty generous and is paying for her ticket here. This is also a total shocker, but I'm not questioning anything, I am just enjoying it. So not only do I get to see my mom, she gets to meet my kids, we get to go to Thailand but she also gets to bring me lots of stuff from home, yaaaayyyy!!! All the stuff I have been lamenting over not bringing, she can bring me! SO EXCITING! Also, I'm ordering stuff online and having it shipped to her so she can bring it. Can I really afford that? No. But I am going to pass up the chance to have some Target hand delivered to Korea? Hell no. Anyone that would like to add to the Target fund and/or would like my mom to deliver something, get it to her before July 17. Or, you can come as well. You just have to bring a suitcase that is 80% filled with stuff for me. :)
And for some lame news, I recently discovered I have to clean my washing machine. Right, WTF? Wash my washing machine? Egads! But I'm actually glad I figured it out because mine was DISGUSTING inside and probably the reason my clothes were still mildewy smelling after washing them. In fact, they smelled worse after I washed them than before! Anyway, it was kind of a frustrating process since the machine is all in Korean and translations were not to be found online. I finally figure out to clean it all the way through and even managed to hunt down some baking soda and vinegar, so things are smelling good these days.
Tracking down things here can sometimes prove to be quite the challenge. I wanted to make homemade playdough with the kids and it called for dried milk...nowhere to be found. Then I looked up other random experiments and they all wanted Borax...no idea where to get that. So we made cookies instead and it cost around $23 for cookie mix, frosting, sprinkles and butter. I made sure to get my money's worth and ate at least 5 cookies. I don't even really like sugar cookies but dammit if I wasn't eating those things!
Ok, well I have to get back to my online shopping now. Trying to make sure I get everything I want! Probably not the best plan, financially, but oh well! Big dreams don't come true when you're being frugal. (mmm, probably the opposite, actually but whatever)
Dream big people!
I have also noticed that old Korean men really seem to like me. Sometimes I think they are smirking at me..but like, in a nice way. But other times they are just straight up delighted by me. Especially the taxi drivers. Which comes in handy when we want to take 5 people. I flash my dents and it is done! Maybe I remind them of their wives...curly hair is the style of choice for most older Korean women. Or maybe I remind them of their baby grandchildren...who knows. Hasn't gotten me any discounts so far, but I just know once I learn Korean they are going to be driving me around for free. So I'll get right on that.
Anyway, such a busy and great week! Kayaking was super fun, even though our boat had a hole in it and we pretty much sank. We had to get our boat drained twice and we ended up losing our group. I was paired up with an Austrian and we were Team Awesome....in last place, but whatever.
Oh, and I got my smart phone and we are in love. Match made in heaven. It definitely trumps the Blackberry and I think I like it more than the iPhone. I've only used other peoples and had an iPod touch, but I think it's a little more user friendly. Either way, I love my new Samsung and if you also have a smart phone, we can chat for free on Kakao or WhatsApp! Download them and get my number, stat!
Today we had a "Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer!" party on the roof for Cherry class. It was soooo fun! And hilarious. It was freaking hot outside, but totally worth it to see the kids in their sunglasses. So stinking precious, I couldn't even handle it. I want to figure out different ways now to get them in sunglasses more often. Koreans are pretty opposed to the heat so I don't know how much they liked being outside, but I had a great time! I'll take it over the cold any day, that is for damn sure. The kids are such goobers when it comes to playing outside too. I think they are just not used to it and don't really know how to handle themselves. We were having a pretty good time until one kid fell on top of another and we had to stop. That is how it works here...one injury and the fun is over for everyone. Very sad. But it was fun while it lasted. And my buddy Ray was back today. He had been on vacation for the past few days, so class it had been pretty quiet in Cherry class. But today Hurricane Ray was back in all his glory and I'm not going to lie, I missed him. He gives really good hugs.
And for some BIG NEWS: MY MOM IS COMING TO KOREA!!!!! I am so so so SOOOO pumped!!! She will only be in a Korea for 2 days, but my class will get to meet "Mom Teacher," and she'll get to see my apartment and everything so I'm really happy. She is coming right before my vacation and then we are heading off to THAILAND together! I mean, how awesome is that? My mom and I are going to Thailand. Thailand. Who would have ever thought? Apparently my grandma has started feeling pretty generous and is paying for her ticket here. This is also a total shocker, but I'm not questioning anything, I am just enjoying it. So not only do I get to see my mom, she gets to meet my kids, we get to go to Thailand but she also gets to bring me lots of stuff from home, yaaaayyyy!!! All the stuff I have been lamenting over not bringing, she can bring me! SO EXCITING! Also, I'm ordering stuff online and having it shipped to her so she can bring it. Can I really afford that? No. But I am going to pass up the chance to have some Target hand delivered to Korea? Hell no. Anyone that would like to add to the Target fund and/or would like my mom to deliver something, get it to her before July 17. Or, you can come as well. You just have to bring a suitcase that is 80% filled with stuff for me. :)
And for some lame news, I recently discovered I have to clean my washing machine. Right, WTF? Wash my washing machine? Egads! But I'm actually glad I figured it out because mine was DISGUSTING inside and probably the reason my clothes were still mildewy smelling after washing them. In fact, they smelled worse after I washed them than before! Anyway, it was kind of a frustrating process since the machine is all in Korean and translations were not to be found online. I finally figure out to clean it all the way through and even managed to hunt down some baking soda and vinegar, so things are smelling good these days.
Tracking down things here can sometimes prove to be quite the challenge. I wanted to make homemade playdough with the kids and it called for dried milk...nowhere to be found. Then I looked up other random experiments and they all wanted Borax...no idea where to get that. So we made cookies instead and it cost around $23 for cookie mix, frosting, sprinkles and butter. I made sure to get my money's worth and ate at least 5 cookies. I don't even really like sugar cookies but dammit if I wasn't eating those things!
Ok, well I have to get back to my online shopping now. Trying to make sure I get everything I want! Probably not the best plan, financially, but oh well! Big dreams don't come true when you're being frugal. (mmm, probably the opposite, actually but whatever)
Dream big people!
13 June 2012
Hilarity
Just spent the last few minutes laughing extremely hard over this website:
http://kikinitinkorea.tumblr.com/?fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl
I don't know if you have to have lived in Korea to completely understand or not, but it's worth a look anyway. I cried.
Anyway, I also joined a gym yesterday. Which is a good thing because I just ate an entire roll of mentos in one sitting. There were 7 flavors in one pack. I obviously had to. So far, the gym has been ok. I am not really a gym person, but I'm finding that a lot of things that I'm "not really," I've been doing in Korea. Waking up early on weekends, loving small children for 8 hours a day, cooking my own dinner, showering in the morning, the list goes on. I signed up mainly because it's in our school building and trying to make myself run on the river path was not working. One woman Zumba classes in the apartment were also getting pretty few and far between. The river path was just too much....lots of stares, lots of bugs and not a whole lot of running. So I went downstairs and the guy offered me a discount and told me I was beautiful with pretty eyes, so I was in. I also want to eat my weight in galbi, so I need something to counteract that. I signed up for classes as well, which may have been a mistake. I did Pilates yesterday and it was basically glorified stretching with some impossible Pilates moves thrown in as well. I am aware the instructor is supposed to be thinner and better than you, but she was seriously the size of a 10 year old and could plank for like, 20 minutes. Kind of discouraging.
Same thing with Yoga today. Also, it was just me so I got a lot of one on one attention. Which was good and bad. Good because she was really nice and now I'm going to give her English lessons, but bad because I suck at Yoga and she was pretty disappointed in my non flexible self. She was also pretty disappointed in my weak ass hands and wrists. But she was nice and like I said, we are going to meet up sometimes so she can get English lessons and I'll get Korean lessons! And some Yoga pointers. Hooray! I ended up spending like, 4 hours there. I was kind of embarrassed. I went after school (around 5) and Yoga starts at 7:30 so I didn't want to go home because I probably wouldn't come back. And I had this great plan to show up after school in my cute dress, good hair and pretty eyes to say hello to the desk guy. He wasn't there but of course he showed up when I got off the treadmill and looked like a hot sweaty mess. I'm sure he also thinks I'm crazy as well because I lost my key (for my locker) and after having everyone look for it, I realized I left it in the bathroom. Oh, it doesn't end there. I was just sitting in the Yoga room at like, 6:50 since I got tired of the treadmill and he comes in and asks if I remembered that the classes start at 7:30. Hahahaha! Hooray. So that is what happens when I try to flirt. Won't be trying again for a while.
Also not sure how my arm use will be tomorrow since I thought it would be a great idea to do all the arm machines. I need to get some sort of routine...no idea what I'm doing. Also a little lost trying to plan a trip to Thailand. I've never had a "real" vacation and it is a bitch to plan. I'm sooo bad at it! Too easily distracted and worried I won't get the best deal. I know, waaaa, right?
Anyway, really looking forward to the weekend! Getting a SMART PHONE on Friday!! Helloooo again world!!! No more getting lost! Shopping, movie and dancing on Saturday (unfortunately not with the cute Korean boy...no boys for that matter) and kayaking Sunday! Hooray!
Dream big people!
http://kikinitinkorea.tumblr.com/?fwcc=1&fwcl=1&fwl
I don't know if you have to have lived in Korea to completely understand or not, but it's worth a look anyway. I cried.
Anyway, I also joined a gym yesterday. Which is a good thing because I just ate an entire roll of mentos in one sitting. There were 7 flavors in one pack. I obviously had to. So far, the gym has been ok. I am not really a gym person, but I'm finding that a lot of things that I'm "not really," I've been doing in Korea. Waking up early on weekends, loving small children for 8 hours a day, cooking my own dinner, showering in the morning, the list goes on. I signed up mainly because it's in our school building and trying to make myself run on the river path was not working. One woman Zumba classes in the apartment were also getting pretty few and far between. The river path was just too much....lots of stares, lots of bugs and not a whole lot of running. So I went downstairs and the guy offered me a discount and told me I was beautiful with pretty eyes, so I was in. I also want to eat my weight in galbi, so I need something to counteract that. I signed up for classes as well, which may have been a mistake. I did Pilates yesterday and it was basically glorified stretching with some impossible Pilates moves thrown in as well. I am aware the instructor is supposed to be thinner and better than you, but she was seriously the size of a 10 year old and could plank for like, 20 minutes. Kind of discouraging.
Same thing with Yoga today. Also, it was just me so I got a lot of one on one attention. Which was good and bad. Good because she was really nice and now I'm going to give her English lessons, but bad because I suck at Yoga and she was pretty disappointed in my non flexible self. She was also pretty disappointed in my weak ass hands and wrists. But she was nice and like I said, we are going to meet up sometimes so she can get English lessons and I'll get Korean lessons! And some Yoga pointers. Hooray! I ended up spending like, 4 hours there. I was kind of embarrassed. I went after school (around 5) and Yoga starts at 7:30 so I didn't want to go home because I probably wouldn't come back. And I had this great plan to show up after school in my cute dress, good hair and pretty eyes to say hello to the desk guy. He wasn't there but of course he showed up when I got off the treadmill and looked like a hot sweaty mess. I'm sure he also thinks I'm crazy as well because I lost my key (for my locker) and after having everyone look for it, I realized I left it in the bathroom. Oh, it doesn't end there. I was just sitting in the Yoga room at like, 6:50 since I got tired of the treadmill and he comes in and asks if I remembered that the classes start at 7:30. Hahahaha! Hooray. So that is what happens when I try to flirt. Won't be trying again for a while.
Also not sure how my arm use will be tomorrow since I thought it would be a great idea to do all the arm machines. I need to get some sort of routine...no idea what I'm doing. Also a little lost trying to plan a trip to Thailand. I've never had a "real" vacation and it is a bitch to plan. I'm sooo bad at it! Too easily distracted and worried I won't get the best deal. I know, waaaa, right?
Anyway, really looking forward to the weekend! Getting a SMART PHONE on Friday!! Helloooo again world!!! No more getting lost! Shopping, movie and dancing on Saturday (unfortunately not with the cute Korean boy...no boys for that matter) and kayaking Sunday! Hooray!
Dream big people!
11 June 2012
Korean Beach Party
Some friends and I made a little trip to the beach Saturday and once we got there (we had a little detour), we were getting a lot of stares. Not because we were foreigners, but because we were pretty much the only people on the BEACH wearing bathing suits. I know! We are such freaks.
Koreans have a really odd beach culture (in my opinion). Apparently most of them are pretty anti-sun. They don't like to be exposed to it, they don't like to be tan and they don't like to bask in all the sun's glory and soak up all the vitamin D it has to offer. On sunny days (or even slightly overcast with a tiny bit of sun days) you will see lots of people walking around with umbrellas up. Not because it's raining or it's going to, but because they want to block out the sun. And if they want to take it to the next level of sun blockage, they will sometimes wear a visor...and a mask...and pants...and gloves...and if they don't already have on a jacket or long sleeves, there are special arm protectors they can buy to put on while outside. Arm condoms, if you will. It baffles me. Mainly because I don't understand how they are not MELTING. Sometimes it is sooo hot outside and they still have all the gear on. You don't see a lot of Koreans sweating, but I really don't understand how because they are dressed for a winter storm in 80 degree weather. Insanity.
And if they are not covered head to toe, they are wearing some sort of other ridiculous get up for the beach. Jeans, a suit, a fancy skirt, HEELS. Oh yes, that's right...saw many women today in heels trying to walk in the sand. And since this is obviously quite a difficult task, they pass their purse off to their adoring boyfriends, who carry it on their shoulder like it's theirs. If they aren't wearing heels, they may be wearing matching shoes with their significant other.
Anyway, it was a nice day, even if I was getting a lot of weird looks. For wearing a bathing suit. At the beach. It's kind of a trek to get there, so my next goal is to make a friend with a car. Let me know if you know someone. Next weekend is river kayaking! Hooray! Although it does mean I have to get up really early...earlier than I do for work. I find this happening a lot on my weekends. I like doing cool stuff, but I'm not sure why it has to start so damn early.
Dream big people!
Koreans have a really odd beach culture (in my opinion). Apparently most of them are pretty anti-sun. They don't like to be exposed to it, they don't like to be tan and they don't like to bask in all the sun's glory and soak up all the vitamin D it has to offer. On sunny days (or even slightly overcast with a tiny bit of sun days) you will see lots of people walking around with umbrellas up. Not because it's raining or it's going to, but because they want to block out the sun. And if they want to take it to the next level of sun blockage, they will sometimes wear a visor...and a mask...and pants...and gloves...and if they don't already have on a jacket or long sleeves, there are special arm protectors they can buy to put on while outside. Arm condoms, if you will. It baffles me. Mainly because I don't understand how they are not MELTING. Sometimes it is sooo hot outside and they still have all the gear on. You don't see a lot of Koreans sweating, but I really don't understand how because they are dressed for a winter storm in 80 degree weather. Insanity.
And if they are not covered head to toe, they are wearing some sort of other ridiculous get up for the beach. Jeans, a suit, a fancy skirt, HEELS. Oh yes, that's right...saw many women today in heels trying to walk in the sand. And since this is obviously quite a difficult task, they pass their purse off to their adoring boyfriends, who carry it on their shoulder like it's theirs. If they aren't wearing heels, they may be wearing matching shoes with their significant other.
Anyway, it was a nice day, even if I was getting a lot of weird looks. For wearing a bathing suit. At the beach. It's kind of a trek to get there, so my next goal is to make a friend with a car. Let me know if you know someone. Next weekend is river kayaking! Hooray! Although it does mean I have to get up really early...earlier than I do for work. I find this happening a lot on my weekends. I like doing cool stuff, but I'm not sure why it has to start so damn early.
Dream big people!
07 June 2012
Stranger Danger
Sooo, just in case you didn't already know how idiotic I can be sometimes...I am sitting in my room with my window open and I just heard people yelling (in Korean) outside. And I'm all, what the hell? Why are these people yelling in jibberish? Annnnd then I remembered I'm in Korea and it's not jibberish, it's Korean. And while I usually know this, I do still tend to think of if it as jibberish a lot. I know it's horrible and it's just me being stupid and lazy for not learning it. But when I'm on the Subway and I hear announcements, I just want to be like, I'm sorry...I'm going to need you to repeat that in a real language, thanks. I'm probably the only person that is thinking that. I also think that when I get random text messages in Korean. I'm all, WHAT IS THIS PERSON TRYING TO TELL ME?!?! Then a friend just tells me it's spam.
Anyway...speaking of weird Korean things. Today the kids had to watch the oddest video for "Uniform Day," which is pretty much an assembly. Usually it's in English but this month the nurse did it so it was in Korean. I'm guessing from the cartoon it was about not talking to strangers. Which is fine, ok..but one of the clips was a guy in a trench coat flashing a little girl. Then she ran home crying. What I thought was the weirdest is that she ran home and had to bang on the door for her mom to open. Why doesn't she know the code to get into her house? Also weird, they warned us not to scare the kids with stories of "stranger danger" (whatever that is) but I feel like that would qualify. Whatever. Another part of the video was (I think) the differences between girls and boys. I think that because it was a girl and a boy standing in their underwear (still cartoons) and then there was an arrow pointing to random body parts. Same...same...same...different! Six seems kind of young for that, but apparently some of the kids in the 7 year old class masturbate in class so maybe not.
Things are going well here in the ROK. I went to Norebang for the first time Tuesday night (we had Wednesday off for Korean Memorial Day) and it was sooooooo soooo fun. It's basically karaoke in a private room. People that know me well know I hate karaoke but LOVE to sing. It's not that I mind making a fool of myself in front of others, it's that I don't want to watch others make a fool of themselves. It hurts me. The other thing I hate is when people sing really awful songs and kill the fun vibe in the bar. So, this is great because you are with only you friends and you get to sing way more often than at a bar. Sadly, they did not have "Heaven is a Place on Earth" but they did have some Bieber so I was ok. They also had a sweet ass tambourine for you to jam on and I gave myself a hand bruise from rocking out so hard. I also now have mad respect for singers because I was trying to dance, jump around and sing and I got out of breath real fast. I'm not in the greatest shape, but damn...I guess my Zumba is not doing as much as I thought. Sadly, we did have one random girl that fancied herself a singer and sang some stupid slow song and made it lame for a while. I couldn't even tambourine to it, it was so slow and stupid. But she was a friend of a friend so she will not be invited again.
I have tons of fun stuff planned for the next few weeks so I am very excited. Especially since I might have some beaaach time! Love it! Being this far from the beach for so long is killing me! The ocean is in my blood, haha! I miss it! Plus today was super frustrating so I could use a little mini break. My job is not hard, really, and I totally love it but it's go go go all the time. I love being busy, but an extra cup of coffee kind of put me on edge today. Plus it was really hot in the teachers room so I was running around trying to get stuff done and then melting while trying to print things. I also decided to undertake a ridiculously time consuming project (totally self imposed) and I was trying to get everything ready all while thing, WHY THE HELL AM I DOING THIS? But I had already come so far so I wasn't going to quit.
My after school class was also especially frustrating. It's only two boys and they are sooo cute but one is really advanced and the other is....not. At all. One can read and today I found out that the other doesn't know his ABCs. He wasn't even really able to find the letters of his name. I would MUCH rather have them separately, because it's pretty much impossible to try and keep them both happy. The advanced one (Jake) is done with whatever I have them do by the time the other one (Tei...pronounced Tay...like ooooh tay) has started. And Tei just copies Jake so I'm pretty sure he's not learning anything. Today I had them arrange their alphabet letters and while Tei and I struggled to find the letters, Jake was done in a minute. So I had him start spelling out words. He would spell a word in the time Tei found a letter. I feel bad because they both want attention but that is not happening evenly. I was trying realllly hard to be patient today but ooooh man. Our class was like this:
Me: "What comes after S Tei?"
Jake: "T! It's T! TTTTTT!!!"
Me: "I know, good job Jake, spell out elephant with your letters. Tei, what is after S? What is the first letter of your name?"
Tei: shrugs shoulders
Jake: "Finished jacky teacher! I'm finished! Tei, it's T!"
Me: "Great Jake! Let him do it. Why don't you spell a word that starts with T please. Tei, can you find the T?"
Tei: points to the W
Jake: "Tiger jacky teacher! Tiger! Tiger starts with T!"
Me: "Way to go Jake! Tei, Tei! Where are you going?"
Tei: "Poo poo."
So that was good hour and a half of my life. Funny now...almost pulled my hair out this afternoon. Again, not mad he doesn't know anything...it's just super frustrating trying to balance the two of them. Especially since the class is supposed to be "Story Retelling" and not "Arranging the Alphabet." My co teacher is the one that made this class happen so I'm kind of pissed at her. I retaliate by being passive aggressive and letting the kids scream in the gym while she goes in the hallway to lay down her anti-fun laws on kids that were having too much.
Not really looking forward to tomorrow since it's "Color Day" and I really haven't done anything in the way of planning. Mainly because I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing. No one does, so I think it'll be ok. We'll see.
Dream big people!
Anyway...speaking of weird Korean things. Today the kids had to watch the oddest video for "Uniform Day," which is pretty much an assembly. Usually it's in English but this month the nurse did it so it was in Korean. I'm guessing from the cartoon it was about not talking to strangers. Which is fine, ok..but one of the clips was a guy in a trench coat flashing a little girl. Then she ran home crying. What I thought was the weirdest is that she ran home and had to bang on the door for her mom to open. Why doesn't she know the code to get into her house? Also weird, they warned us not to scare the kids with stories of "stranger danger" (whatever that is) but I feel like that would qualify. Whatever. Another part of the video was (I think) the differences between girls and boys. I think that because it was a girl and a boy standing in their underwear (still cartoons) and then there was an arrow pointing to random body parts. Same...same...same...different! Six seems kind of young for that, but apparently some of the kids in the 7 year old class masturbate in class so maybe not.
Things are going well here in the ROK. I went to Norebang for the first time Tuesday night (we had Wednesday off for Korean Memorial Day) and it was sooooooo soooo fun. It's basically karaoke in a private room. People that know me well know I hate karaoke but LOVE to sing. It's not that I mind making a fool of myself in front of others, it's that I don't want to watch others make a fool of themselves. It hurts me. The other thing I hate is when people sing really awful songs and kill the fun vibe in the bar. So, this is great because you are with only you friends and you get to sing way more often than at a bar. Sadly, they did not have "Heaven is a Place on Earth" but they did have some Bieber so I was ok. They also had a sweet ass tambourine for you to jam on and I gave myself a hand bruise from rocking out so hard. I also now have mad respect for singers because I was trying to dance, jump around and sing and I got out of breath real fast. I'm not in the greatest shape, but damn...I guess my Zumba is not doing as much as I thought. Sadly, we did have one random girl that fancied herself a singer and sang some stupid slow song and made it lame for a while. I couldn't even tambourine to it, it was so slow and stupid. But she was a friend of a friend so she will not be invited again.
I have tons of fun stuff planned for the next few weeks so I am very excited. Especially since I might have some beaaach time! Love it! Being this far from the beach for so long is killing me! The ocean is in my blood, haha! I miss it! Plus today was super frustrating so I could use a little mini break. My job is not hard, really, and I totally love it but it's go go go all the time. I love being busy, but an extra cup of coffee kind of put me on edge today. Plus it was really hot in the teachers room so I was running around trying to get stuff done and then melting while trying to print things. I also decided to undertake a ridiculously time consuming project (totally self imposed) and I was trying to get everything ready all while thing, WHY THE HELL AM I DOING THIS? But I had already come so far so I wasn't going to quit.
My after school class was also especially frustrating. It's only two boys and they are sooo cute but one is really advanced and the other is....not. At all. One can read and today I found out that the other doesn't know his ABCs. He wasn't even really able to find the letters of his name. I would MUCH rather have them separately, because it's pretty much impossible to try and keep them both happy. The advanced one (Jake) is done with whatever I have them do by the time the other one (Tei...pronounced Tay...like ooooh tay) has started. And Tei just copies Jake so I'm pretty sure he's not learning anything. Today I had them arrange their alphabet letters and while Tei and I struggled to find the letters, Jake was done in a minute. So I had him start spelling out words. He would spell a word in the time Tei found a letter. I feel bad because they both want attention but that is not happening evenly. I was trying realllly hard to be patient today but ooooh man. Our class was like this:
Me: "What comes after S Tei?"
Jake: "T! It's T! TTTTTT!!!"
Me: "I know, good job Jake, spell out elephant with your letters. Tei, what is after S? What is the first letter of your name?"
Tei: shrugs shoulders
Jake: "Finished jacky teacher! I'm finished! Tei, it's T!"
Me: "Great Jake! Let him do it. Why don't you spell a word that starts with T please. Tei, can you find the T?"
Tei: points to the W
Jake: "Tiger jacky teacher! Tiger! Tiger starts with T!"
Me: "Way to go Jake! Tei, Tei! Where are you going?"
Tei: "Poo poo."
So that was good hour and a half of my life. Funny now...almost pulled my hair out this afternoon. Again, not mad he doesn't know anything...it's just super frustrating trying to balance the two of them. Especially since the class is supposed to be "Story Retelling" and not "Arranging the Alphabet." My co teacher is the one that made this class happen so I'm kind of pissed at her. I retaliate by being passive aggressive and letting the kids scream in the gym while she goes in the hallway to lay down her anti-fun laws on kids that were having too much.
Not really looking forward to tomorrow since it's "Color Day" and I really haven't done anything in the way of planning. Mainly because I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing. No one does, so I think it'll be ok. We'll see.
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| Norebang Dance Party! |
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| Jake and Tei (Jake's Mom...whhhaat were you thinking with that outfit??) |
03 June 2012
Dreaming with a broken heart
So I've come up with a new life goal. Well, something to add to my life goals anyway. I realize my life goals are petty and somewhat immature, but I'm cool with it. I definitely think they are an improvement on "get married, have a family." How boring.
Anyway, adding to the list of ride in a hot air balloon, drink champagne while riding first class and learn the dance from "Dirty Dancing Havana Nights," I have added: visit every continent....but not really Antarctica. I mean, I would go to Antarctica if I had the chance, but I'm not going to consider myself a failure if I don't make it there. Mainly because it's freezing cold and I hate the cold. Plus, I am pretty sure they don't have hotels or anything for me to do there. I think this new goal is a step up from my old college goal of make out with someone from every continent. I am currently stuck on five. I can't seem to snag an Aussie, but maybe while I'm here. There are a lot of them here. I know, I'm very classy. I think I shocked one of the Korean teachers by mentioning that past goal. I think she's only kissed her husband. Also, very boring. But whatever. I only have three for the visiting goal, I still need South America, Africa and Australia.
I also have made a new list of more specific places I want to visit. It's long, about 20 places but the big ones are the Great Wall, The Pyramids, the rainforest, Angel Falls, and Tokyo. I think I can knock out at least the Great Wall or Tokyo while I'm here.
It's funny, because sometimes I think, man, I am well traveled and worldly and woo hooo, look at me go. But then I meet other people that have been way more places, have cooler tattoos, can speak other languages and other cool shit and I'm all, damn. I need to step up my game. I sometimes have a hard time with just being ok with how things are and what I've accomplished, but for the most part, I think I'm pretty badass.
So that is my super random post for now. It was a fun with weekend. Too tired to go into details but involved a lot of meat, a lot of soju, and lots of random people...and two boys with braces, one of which thought the best way to try and pick me up was to run up, tap me on the shoulder, stick his tongue out at me, and then run away. Drugs much? People are so weird.
Dream big people!
Anyway, adding to the list of ride in a hot air balloon, drink champagne while riding first class and learn the dance from "Dirty Dancing Havana Nights," I have added: visit every continent....but not really Antarctica. I mean, I would go to Antarctica if I had the chance, but I'm not going to consider myself a failure if I don't make it there. Mainly because it's freezing cold and I hate the cold. Plus, I am pretty sure they don't have hotels or anything for me to do there. I think this new goal is a step up from my old college goal of make out with someone from every continent. I am currently stuck on five. I can't seem to snag an Aussie, but maybe while I'm here. There are a lot of them here. I know, I'm very classy. I think I shocked one of the Korean teachers by mentioning that past goal. I think she's only kissed her husband. Also, very boring. But whatever. I only have three for the visiting goal, I still need South America, Africa and Australia.
I also have made a new list of more specific places I want to visit. It's long, about 20 places but the big ones are the Great Wall, The Pyramids, the rainforest, Angel Falls, and Tokyo. I think I can knock out at least the Great Wall or Tokyo while I'm here.
It's funny, because sometimes I think, man, I am well traveled and worldly and woo hooo, look at me go. But then I meet other people that have been way more places, have cooler tattoos, can speak other languages and other cool shit and I'm all, damn. I need to step up my game. I sometimes have a hard time with just being ok with how things are and what I've accomplished, but for the most part, I think I'm pretty badass.
So that is my super random post for now. It was a fun with weekend. Too tired to go into details but involved a lot of meat, a lot of soju, and lots of random people...and two boys with braces, one of which thought the best way to try and pick me up was to run up, tap me on the shoulder, stick his tongue out at me, and then run away. Drugs much? People are so weird.
Dream big people!
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